Tag Archives: Building

List Building Strategies for Retention and Profits

Once people join your list you have an even bigger goal; keep them on your list. Lest you think this to be a monumental task, know that you can learn effective list building strategies to not only keep people on your list but to turn them into raving fans who hang on your every written word. It just takes time, and with consistent practice your list can become the asset you want it to be. Here are the steps I recommend to everyone I work with when it comes to list building for retention and profit.

Get into the habit of emailing your list every day. Even if this seems like something you do not want to do, give it a try for a full month before making your decision to go back to the schedule you used previously. Remember that we all want to hear from the people we trust to help us to achieve our goals. Mailing daily can help to get you to this coveted position in your prospect’s mind more readily. Of all the list building strategies I teach, this is the most important one.
Make sure to include at least one clickable link in each of your emails. This tells people right away that you are in business and serious about your niche topic. These links can lead to your blog posts, your products, affiliate products, resources, and other items of importance to them. As long as your links lead to something relevant you are good to go.
Ask people to reply to your email messages. This serves a couple of purposes. First, it helps to build a relationship between you and your prospect and to strengthen a relationship between you and your current clients. Next, it allows you to start and continue a conversation with them that can lead to other sales when you answer their questions and offer your advice and opinion. And finally, asking people to hit “reply” to your emails helps to ensure that your messages to them will seldom, if ever be marked as spam by their email provider.
Use your stories to find commonality with your list and to allow them a peek into your personal life. I share stories and my world travels, my life in two cities (the desert of Santa Clarita, California and the beach in Santa Barbara), my family living in Finland, my pets, and my work with non-profits and other charities. Storytelling is one of those list building strategies that will never go out of style.

By now you can see that keeping people on your list is something that is doable. List building strategies are an important part of your ongoing business and these four steps will get you there. Emailing every day, including clickable links within each email, asking people to reply to you, and telling personal stories are effective list building strategies for your business and will lead to list retention and profits. All of this and more is included in great detail in my Really Simple List Building training program.

I’m Connie Ragen Green and I work with new online entrepreneurs to help them get into profit as quickly as possible. Download your Online Entrepreneur Blueprint and get started right away.

List Building for Beginners – How to Begin

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List Building for Beginners

It is said that when it comes to online business, the gold is in your list. This is true in the offline world as well, where a company’s database is one of its most valuable assets. List building for beginners is a topic many people discuss, but doing what actually works is much more important than simply discussing the topic on a regular basis.

When I came online more than a decade ago I was like all new entrepreneurs in that I had no list at all. I added a couple of email addresses to my empty list so that it wouldn’t be blank, but these were two alternate emails that belonged to me. Then a few people I knew personally joined my list and I was ready to move forward. This was only a psychological shift, as I really didn’t have a list or even a business at that point.

Now this was before social media, so there were few places to connect with the people who might be your prospects and potential clients. One strategy I started using quite by accident was to introduce myself on teleseminars I was attending. The host would open up the line for a few minutes before that training began, and this gave us all the opportunity to say our name, our city, and our website. You had to be fast or you would miss out and I learned quickly how to say everything without taking a breath. It went something like this:

“I’m Connie Ragen Green from California teaching people how to write and market eBooks at eBook Writing and Marketing Secrets do com”.

And yes, this was an effective way for me to pick up five to ten subscribers every day. But that strategy is not scalable. I soon learned that creating relevant content to distribute on the internet was a much better way to connect with my prospects and clients. I wrote blog posts and articles and then repurposed those into short reports. When people read something that helped them in achieving their goals they were anxious to get on my list.

Soon I began hosting my own teleseminars and allowing people to introduce themselves at the beginning of my calls. This was my way of paying it forward to the next wave on online entrepreneurs. And my content became the basis for information products and books, further reinforcing the importance of creating something that will be available for years to come.

List building for beginners does not have to be a challenge if you approach it properly. Choose your niche carefully, begin blogging and writing on the topics related to your niche that can eventually become books, and begin hosting teleseminars that you can eventually turn into a podcast. All of these methods will work in unison to attract the people who want and need to be on your list. Always remember that business is about serving others and you will be on your way to success as an online entrepreneur.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. And please be sure to check out my Really Simple List Building training course to get started today.

Building Your Blog, Building Your Business

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Building Your Blog to Build Your Business

If you are blogging (and you will most definitely benefit by doing so regularly) then your blog is a fantastic source of passive income. I have already talked about adding a resource page in an earlier post, but now let’s dive into the blog posts themselves.

Each and every blog post has a job to do. Please don’t ever spend your time writing, editing, formatting, and promoting a post whose only task is to take up space on your site.

Instead, your each post must have a strong focus that leads naturally to a solid call to action.

Calls to action can be:

An offer to buy one of your products or services
An invitation to a discovery (pre-coaching) call
A recommendation to check out an affiliate or JV offer
An invitation to a live/virtual workshop or conference
An opt-in offer

Or it could even be a link to read more about the subject, join your Facebook group, or leave a comment.

The point is, each post is an opportunity to grow your following and create passive income—either directly or indirectly—and your call to action should be foremost in your mind as you’re writing each article. Building your blog is worth your time and effort and will pay off handsomely over the years.

Of course, if you’re like most bloggers, you have hundreds or maybe thousands of posts that are not as well monetized as they could be. So for this step, you’re going to log in to your analytics program, sort all your posts according to which ones receive the most traffic, and start creating those compelling calls to action.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll republish the best ones with current dates (that will move them to the front of your blog) and also add them to your social media promotion queue, so you can get more eyes on them. Or, better yet, remove the dates from your posts altogether.

And you’ll want to add evergreen blog posts to relevant autoresponder sequences, so that subscribers who’ve just met you can quickly find your best content. Don’t just wait for a chance meeting—you have to lead them to your most important information.

Self Publishing a Book and Building Your List

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Self-Publishing a Book and Building a List: Why This Is So Important

You have a great deal of knowledge to share, and one of the very best ways to share that is with a book. I’ve now written and published more than a dozen bestselling books and am writing here from my experiences. Self publishing a book gives you:

Instant expert status
Opportunities to speak and present to others
Access to an audience you might not otherwise reach
The opportunity to fill your sales funnel with interested, engaged readers

Here’s how:

Start by publishing on Kindle. If you’ve been blogging or creating other content for more than a few weeks, you likely already have everything you need to “write” your book. Simply gather your content, organize it in logical book format, do some light editing to make it flow well, and you’re done! Right now, take some time to see what content you have already created that could be repurposed and used to create your first, or next book.

But before you hit the “publish” button, create an offer just for Kindle readers. This can be a landing page with an opt-in offer of a related checklist, an additional resource guide, or even an audio version of your book. You’ll want to be sure it’s closely related, so downloading it is a true “no brainer” for all your book buyers, and follow up with a relevant autoresponder series.

I highly recommend using Aweber for this, as this service is inexpensive and fairly self explanatory to set up. Their customer service is very good and I am also more than happy to answer questions for you about doing this part successfully.

Pro tip: Add a link to your landing page in the front of your book, so that those who are browsing on Amazon will see it, even if they don’t buy.

Once your landing page is finished and your book is published, you can offer it for free through Kindle’s KDP Select program. Promote it heavily on social media and to your mailing list. The more downloads you generate, the higher your book will climb in the rankings (if temporarily), driving more traffic to your book—and your landing page.

Follow up with a second (and third, and fourth) book to keep the momentum and your list building going strong for years to come.

Podcast: List Building Tips Online

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List Building Tips Online

This month’s podcast is a discussion of list building tips online for internet entrepreneurs. Here are some of the points I explain in great detail during the training call:

The first question is…

Have You Chosen Your Primary Niche?

Before we can start building a highly responsive niche we must be clear about who we are and how we intend to serve those who come to us for information, advice, and recommendations. Answer these questions as carefully as you possibly can…

What are you interested in, have passion for, and experience with?
How will you serve those who come to you for information, recommendations, and guidance?
Are you willing to work diligently in this niche for at least six months?

List Building Tips Online

The above image is one you may remember from middle school mathematics. It is a three circle Venn diagram to help you choose the right niche for your online business. Once you have done this, you are ready to begin building your niche.

How Do You Begin Building A List?

Who are you?
Where will people find you online?
What are you offering in exchange for their name and email address?
How will you follow up with them?
When will you reach out to them in a unique way?

Think about each of these questions, listen to the podcast, and then comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts on these ideas and concepts in regards to how defining and refining your niche and building a responsive list will enable you to be a more successful entrepreneur.

These list building tips online are intended to focus and guide you through the process of building a success online business. If you’d like to download my latest Focus Guide on Repurposing Your Content, click on this link. Feel free to share it with anyone who may benefit from what I am sharing. Also, my Study Guides are available here for many of my recent podcasts.

Are you ready to be surprised? Recently, I have introduced a new feature during these podcast training calls. I will always have the latest course or program, either one of my own or one offered by someone I highly recommend, at my Surprise! link. Check it out today and see what I am recommending this time. If it’s not my own program, product, course, or live event then it’s always from someone I know, trust, and highly recommend as a great value to you as an online entrepreneur.

My most recent book is now available. It’s entitled Doing What It Takes: The Online Entrepreneur’s Playbook and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it by way of a review on Amazon after you read it and implement my suggestions.

Are you already a part my list community and receiving my daily email updates and training? If not, please give me your first name and primary email address in the form on the right-hand side of this site. If you are brand new to my podcasts, you will be interested to know that this specific training call, as well as all of the calls in my podcast series is intended to teach you and other new online entrepreneurs how to take your business to the next level quickly and effectively, and as a way for me to share my exact methods, techniques, Case Studies, secrets, and advice on creating a profitable and lucrative online business using the ‘multiple income streams’ approach. People on six continents have now discovered that starting an Internet business is the very fastest way to achieve both time and financial freedom, as well as to great success in all areas of your life, and you need help to get there quickly. That’s why I started this online marketing tips podcast for my community.

You will see that each podcast session is first recorded live as a teleseminar, and then repurposed into a podcast to extend my reach to the world. Please join my list (opt in on the right) to be included on these calls, and be sure to introduce yourself and share your site for optimal exposure for years to come! Also, check out my Podcast Show Notes site to see how you can subscribe at no cost to both of my podcasts, and please leave me a review on one or both of them if you are so inclined.

If you would like to get started earning income online right away then I recommend affiliate marketing as the stream of income that will allow you to “earn while you learn” You may now pick up my popular training on winning affiliate contests and other online marketing tips for only seven dollars at Affiliate Contest Secrets. This training regularly sells for $27. Use the discount code CONTEST to bring the price down to $7. This training has been completely updated for 2016 with the latest information, strategies, and Case Studies for you to use in your own business.

Please be sure to leave your comments below so that I may get to know you better and to serve you as you continue your journey as an online entrepreneur. Getting started with an online business will change your life forever and my reward is your massive success!

Subscribe To My Online Marketing Tips Podcast Today!

List Building Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs

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The Importance of List Building Marketing Tips

List building marketing tips are readily available, but the true value is in knowing exactly how to get started with this strategy. I learned early on that “the gold is in the list and in the follow up.” Remember that we all begin as online entrepreneurs with no one on our email list. These days people will gladly exchange their name and email address for your free giveaway, as long as this is something that is…

Irresistible – You must create a report, guide, white paper, series of audios or videos, or something else that your target audience will feel like they can’t live without. Observe your own behavior to see which sites you are willing to opt in to and which ones cause you to simply click away, most likely never to return.

Relevant – Make sure what you are creating as your free giveaway is relevant to your topic. If your niche is nutrition and health, your audience most likely will not be interested in a report on how to take a family vacation while on a budget. I regularly joke that many of my people need to lose a few pounds and love dogs, but that doesn’t mean they want to hear about weight loss or dog training from me. It’s not why they opted into my list to begin with and I must keep that in mind.

Substantial – Gone are the days of a three page document as the free giveaway. When I was first online the people who were already successful gave away the equivalent of a short eBook as their free giveaway. At some point all of us switched to something short and sweet, but I believe the trend now is back to something of great value and substance.

In my mind, list building includes both the process of encouraging and persuading someone to join your list, as well as the ongoing task of keeping them on your list and actively engaged. This can be a challenge, as you will hear differing ideas of how often to send emails, what to include in your messages, and how often to offer something for sale. This comes with the experience of running an online business, so you must jump in and see how your community responds to you.

I like to tell stories within my email messages, and many people tell me that this type of storytelling is what keeps them on my list and actively participating in my programs. Do not be afraid to share some things about yourself, but remember that once you do you will be unable to take it back. For example, in my family we seldom mention anyone’s name and never show pictures. This needs to be a serious discussion within your family, as people feel differently about this depending upon their prior experiences. The most important thing is to build your list and to communicate regularly with them.

What other questions do you have regarding list building marketing tips and growing your business as an online entrepreneur?

Team Building for Entrepreneurs

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Team Building for Entrepreneurs

When I began my online business back in 2006 I hadn’t a clue as to how to manage a team. Building the right group of people eluded me and the result was that I attempted to do everything myself. When I did bring an outside person aboard my skills as a team leader were weak and ineffective. Finally, I started outsourcing some of my tasks, specifically technical and clerical ones, to those who were more experienced in these areas than I would ever be. My time was better spent on the few activities I was good at, which included mentoring new online entrepreneurs, writing and publishing, teaching and training, and creating information products. Everything else would be accomplished by one or more of my team members.

Michael Hyatt has recently written a post called Camels vs. Stallions: Knowing the Difference Can Eliminate the Friction on Your Team where he addresses the issue of team members being either managerial or entrepreneurial and how to help make your business run more smoothly by utilizing everyone’s specific skills. In it he says…

The trick is making sure they’re both going the same direction. Success requires integrating their unique contributions.

How can we do that? Here are three steps that enable the manager-enterpreneur distinction to drive success instead of frustration:

Recognize. It doesn’t take a zoologist to tell that camels and stallions are different. But organizations sometimes try to see managers and entrepreneurs through the same lens. The truth is they’re different—usually all the way down to basic temperament. Because they’re different, they both make contributions unique to them.

Appreciate. Next, we need to value these unique contributions. Appreciation is a critical factor for team success. Without managers, entrepreneurs don’t have anyone to hold down the shop. Without entrepreneurs, managers don’t have business for the shop. Until each can appreciate the other’s contribution, they’ll work at cross purposes.

Mobilize. Recognition and appreciation should lead to empowerment. It makes no sense to force stallions to carry freight or camels to race ahead on scouting missions. Success is only possible when teams mobilize members to do what they do best at least the majority of the time.

Managers and entrepreneurs are both prone to different mistakes. Managers may be tempted to see business as serving their rules. Entrepreneurs may be tempted to pursue business that ultimately hurts the organization.

I recommend that you read through Michael’s post and absorb the wisdom he shares there. I can speak from experience when I say that everything changed in my own business once I had my team building skills working for me. Currently I have fourteen people in half a dozen countries helping me to achieve my goals, and they each work to their strengths in the overall scheme of things.

What have been your experiences with team building as a small business owner or entrepreneur?

Team Building Techniques for Entrepreneurs

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Effective Team Building Techniques

Even though I work alone as an online entrepreneur, the truth is that I couldn’t do what I do without the help of other people. These people are part of my team, and I value each one of them for what they bring to my business. Teams rise and fall on culture, leadership, relationships, attitude and effort.

During the early 2000s I attended a series of courses and workshops meant to enhance personal development and self growth. One of these was called “Warrior Camp” and we were divided into four teams of about twenty-five people each. These exercises and activities were an excellent way for me to build my confidence and rise to the expectations of my teammates. After almost a week I was forever changed and understood the true meaning and value of team work.

Great teams have a great culture driven by great leadership. Relationships are meaningful and teammates are connected. The collective attitude is very positive and everyone on the team works hard to accomplish their mission. It’s all about teamwork. Sometimes you are the star and sometimes you help the star. If want to be truly great you have to work as hard to be a great teammate as you do to be a great player. When we work hard to be a great team member we make everyone around us better.

Your team doesn’t care if you are a superstar. They care if you are a super team member. Three things you control every day are your attitude, your effort and your actions to be a great teammate. It doesn’t matter what is happening around you and who you think is being unfair. Every day you can focus on being positive, working hard and making others around you better. If you do that great things will happen. One person can’t make a team but one person can break a team. Stay positive!

Make sure you don’t let energy vampires sabotage your team. Post a sign that says “No Energy Vampires” allowed and keep them off the bus. Most importantly, decide to stay positive. While I was working as a classroom teacher for twenty years I allowed people to drain my energy almost every day. It wasn’t the children, it was the adults. Looking back I would have handled these situations much differently.

Great team members hold each other accountable to the high standards and excellence their culture expects and demands. Team beats talent when talent isn’t a team. Great teams care more. They care more about their effort, their work and their team members.

Are you building great teams in your personal and business lives? I hope these team building techniques are helpful in your quest for excellence.